Improvement in gun-locks



L. L. HEPBURNQ Gun-Lock.

Patented April 27,1875.

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LEWIS L. HEPBURN, OF ILION, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN GUN=LOCKS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. E62A73, dated April 27, 1875 application filed April 3, 1875.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LEWIS L. HEPBURN, of Ilion, in the county of Herkimer and State of New York, have invented certain Improvements in Gun-Locks, of which the following is a specification:

My invention relates to that class of gunlocks designated rebounding locks; and the invention consists of a stirrup provided with two separate points of bearing, in connection with a tumbler, so constructed and arranged that one of the bearings shall operate to throw the hammer forward, and the other to throw it back, as hereinafter more fully described.

Figure l is a side elevation of the lock, with a portion broken away to show the improved portions; Fig.2, a side view; and Fig. 3, a top view of the tumbler, detached; and Fig. 4 is a side view of the stirrup, detached.

The object of my invention is to make a gunlock having a rebounding hammer, and that can be made cheaply, and also of such aform and construction that it can be readily substituted in place of the ordinary look on guns.

As shown in Fig. 1, the lock-plate, spring, hammer, and all other parts except the tumbler and stirrup, are made in the usual manner. The stirrup S, as shown in Fig. 4, is made in the form of an elbow-lever, and has pins or studs for bearings at each of its three points, a, Z), and cthe two former to bear on the tumbler, and the latter for attaching it to the mainspring. The tumbler T is of the usual form, but is slotted vertically, as shown in Fig. 3, this slot being of the proper size to perniit the stirrup S to hang freely therein, as shown in Fig. 2, there being notches or cavities e and fin its upper edge, for the bearings a and b of the stirrup to rest in.

It will be observed that while the notch e is at the front end of the projecting arm of the tumbler, the other notch,f, is just in rear of the journals or axis of the tumbler.

The operation will be readily understood. When the hammer is cooked, as shown in Fig. 1, the stirrup is supported entirely on its front bearing, a; but as the hammer swings forward, the front arm of the tumbler descends until just before the hammer reaches the nip ple or firing-pin. The rear bearing 0 rests in the notch f, which, being in rear of the journal, tends to draw the tumbler, and with it the hammer, backward.

The greater tension of the mainspring, and the longer leverage of the front arm of the tumbler, impart to the hammer sufficient m0- inentum to overcome, for the time being, the backward pull of the rear bearing, and impels the hammer forward sufficiently to deliver its blow, after which, the front bearing being freed from the tumbler, the rear bearing immediately draws the tumbler and hammer back far enough for the sear to engage in the half-cock notch, thus holding the hammer at half-cock.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is 1. The stirrup S, provided with the two bearings a and I), in combination with the tumbler T, said parts being constructed to operate substantially as described.

.2. The combination, in a gun-lock, of atumbler, with a stirrup arranged to bear alternately on opposite sides of the axis of said tumbler, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

LEWVIS L. HEPBURN.

lVitn esses:

JOHN PARSONS, WILLIAM J AOKSON. 

